Welcome to the Army of Persia! As the commanding officer of the Persian army, King Darius personally gave you the responsibility of ridding the Persian Empire of those pesky Greek city-states.  On paper, this should have been just another victory for the army that had conquered most of Asia Minor. Unfortunately, nobody told the Greeks! Now, as you gaze across the plains of Marathon, you see that your army is in shambles and Greeks have sent runners to tell everyone of your defeat. How will you explain this to Emperor Darius? 

 The Task

 Good news letters are fun to write because you know that you're going to make the person receiving it feel good.  Bad news letters, on the other hand, are not enjoyable to write since they can make someone feel disappointed, sad, or possibly angry enough to have you executed. This is the task before you. Assume that Emperor Darius left Marathon before the Greeks sprung their surprise. He has no idea that his army has been crushed. It is your job to write a letter to the most powerful man in the world explaining that he has lost. 

Resources

Contained within these four web sites are accounts of the Battle of Marathon. 

Marathon 1

Marathon 2

Marathon 3

Marathon 4

 The Process

 Using the links listed under Resources, develop a composite account of what exactly happened at the Battle of Marathon. Specifically, you should concentrate on the following questions 

o        What were the sequence of events at Marathon? 

o        What mistakes, if any, did the Persians make? 

o        Is there any single factor that allowed the Greeks to be victorious? 

o        Is there any agreement on why the outcome of the battle favored the Greeks 

o        Is there anything positive the Persians could take away from this experience 

Once you have familiarized yourself with the battle, you must author a letter to Darius explaining the outcome of the fight 

  The letter must include all of the following elements 
      An introduction that clearly explains the purpose of your letter – why you are writing.  Telling your readers right away why you are writing also helps them determine how to act on your letter. 
        The body provides supporting evidence to further support yourself. This is the part of the letter where you specifically explain exactly what happened and why. 
        The close should summarize the point you made in the introduction and in the body and suggest what your next step should be. Remember, a letter is only successful if the person receiving it understands why you wrote it.